This doctoral thesis studies the effectiveness of real-life risk communication efforts that include visuals and aim to increase the awareness of populations at risk of natural hazards. Several methods are used. To obtain a picture of the current state of research and practice, a qualitative approach is followed, including a literature review of risk communication concerning floods and interviews with designers of Smartphone Apps on avalanche danger. To measure the effectiveness of a real risk communication effort, a quantitative approach is followed, including statistical analysis of survey responses and Radio-Frequency Identification technology. The studied risk communication effort is the ‘Alerte’ exhibition, held in the French Alps, which was designed with the local stakeholders following an action-oriented approach. ... Read more

This study investigates the impact of an exhibition on natural hazards on risk awareness of the inhabitants of the Ubaye Valley in southern France. Risk communication practices need to be effective to contribute to disaster reduction, but their impact is rarely evaluated. Using a pre-test/post-test research design as well as a longitudinal study, changes in awareness of adults, teenagers and children were measured. The responses to a questionnaire were analyzed using non-parametric tests. The questionnaire dealt with several factors determining or influencing awareness: attitudes to risk, previous experiences of emergencies, exposure to awareness raising, ability to mitigate/prepare/respond, worry level, self-reported awareness, hard knowledge and demographic characteristics. Generally, risk awareness was higher after visiting the exhibition. The exhibition had most impact on visitors that had experienced few natural hazards or that were little informed a priori. In contrast to teenagers and children, the awareness of adults increased only for risk in general and not for specific natural hazards. Moreover, the results show that the exhibition was more effective in raising awareness of the hazards that occur rarely. For more frequent and more locally occurring hazards, such as debris flows, other means of communication should be considered. ... Read more

Every year, people are victims of avalanches. It is commonly assumed that one way to decrease those losses is to inform about danger levels. This paper presents a study on current practices in the development and evaluation of smartphones applications that are dedicated to avalanche risk communication. The analysis based on semi-structured interviews with developers of six smartphone apps highlights the context of their development, how choices of content and visualization were made and how their effectiveness is evaluated by the developers themselves. It appears that all these communicators agree on the message to disseminate and the general representation concepts (i.e., use of the international avalanche danger scale and of a tiered approach). However, the specific ways this message is presented (e.g., maps, icons) is not uniform. Moreover, only simple evaluation processes (e.g., usage monitoring) are conducted by the developers. However, they are well aware that further efforts need to be made in order to thoroughly analyze the effectiveness of the smartphone apps in terms of their real impact (e.g., increase in awareness or change in behavior). This work also highlighted that the smartphone applications are in transition from being one-way communication tools to becoming two-way communication platforms, with the possibility for non-experts users to report on snow and avalanche conditions. This paper indicates challenges that avalanche risk communication is facing, although it is indisputably the most advanced and standardized practice compared to communication tools for other natural hazards. In addition to being relevant for the avalanche risk communication community, this research is therefore of interest for scientists and practitioners working on risk communication related to natural hazards. ... Read more

The International Association for Promoting Geoethics (IAPG) is a multidisciplinary, scientific platform for the debate on problems of Ethics applied to the Geosciences. The Young Scientists Club (YSC) of the IAPG represents the interface between the IAPG and the young geoscientists’ community, organizations and groups. Its overall goal is to promote the topic of geoethics and the IAPG among its young colleagues. The YSC is considered to be the outpost of the IAPG and one of its greater strengths. It is believed that young people entering the professional world or evolving in academic settings can identify needs and expectations that geosciences can cover. The YSC seeks to give a status update on pertinent geoscience challenges and how geoethical principles can be integrated in tackling these challenges. They can also report new instances from the society and identify the potential innovative contributions that geosciences can provide as a service to the population. The YSC was initiated in the summer 2015. All IAPG members younger than 35 years old are part of the YSC. Its Executive Board is constituted by enthusiastic young geoscientists from various backgrounds and countries. Their tasks are to organize and coordinate the activities of the YSC: manage young geoscientists blog posts on Geoethics, set-up a forum platform to allow discussions about geoethics between young and senior geoscientists, organize IAPG-YSC sessions at international conferences for example to discuss the new values that allow to do research in geosciences and organize working groups on geoethical topics. The YSC eagerly anticipates meeting the young geoscientist community at the upcoming EGU Assembly and discuss all current geoethical issues. We look forward to garnering further support for this exciting initiative. ... Read more